Sally’s Bucket List

This weekend was one for the books. Our sweet Sally saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time. It seems silly that it took Sally’s cancer diagnoses for us to, I guess, wake up in a way. Our dogs are more to us than just dogs, they are our babies. Sally has been part of my husband’s life longer than he can count without truly thinking about it. There bond is one for the books. From accounts from L’s mom he sounds a lot like his grandfather (a great man I was not able to meet). As I have said before wherever he goes, she goes. She is his right hand gal.

As for the chemo. We are still seeing a positive response. We have been able to cut back on her cough medicine and she seems to be sleeping better each night. As I have said before, our job as great fur parents is to sustain her quality of life. We are not naive and in no way think the chemo is going to cure her, but at least we know we have done our best to help the symptoms. If you don’t have an animal that you feel this way for I highly suggest you get one. The love we get from our dogs, heck even our shop cats, is indescribable.

Saturday October 4th we took our dog to the vet for a follow up appointment. The vets have been treating her for pneumonia. We left after a little over an hour with heavy hearts. Sally has cancer.

Monday October 6th L took Sally to a specialist. The best in our area for treating cancer in animals. L and I love our dogs more than life itself. When we heard the words terminal we knew it wasn’t about curing but about eliminating the pain.

Thursday October 9th Sally has her first chemotherapy treatment. The appointment only lasts about 45 minutes. At the end we’ve already noticed her breathing is slightly better (chemo reacts differently in animals and helps with cancer symptoms drastically).

Saturday October 11th. Its been two days since Sally’s first chemo treatment. She’ll never been 100% but watching her finally eat some chicken and drink water has been the greatest thing.

I started this as mainly a timeline for our own reference. A place to remember the chain the events that has changed our life and our other pooches lives. For a dog that has lived a fabulous life who only knows love, it is our job to make her as comfortable as possible. L has decided we need to start Sally’s bucket list. First thing up is seeing the ocean. All dogs deserve to know the intense power and freedom that over comes you when standing on the sand in front of the powerful waves. We even created a hashtag just for Sally and her adventures, #sallysalamandersbucketlist.